


“I’m Not Anybody’s Friend”: An Exploration of Relationships and Character Growth in Gabriele Mainetti’s Lo chiamavano Jeeg Robot

by winteryknights (BlackcatNamedlucky)



Category: Lo chiamavano Jeeg Robot | They Call Me Jeeg (2015)
Genre: Essays, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-27
Updated: 2020-10-27
Packaged: 2021-03-08 20:33:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,473
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27232801
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlackcatNamedlucky/pseuds/winteryknights
Summary: Thesis: By setting Enzo and Fabio up as narrative foils and contrasting their motivations, their relationships, and their arcs, Gabriele Mainetti shows the audience that everyone has the capacity to change for the better, if only they make the choice to do so.
Comments: 3
Kudos: 2





	“I’m Not Anybody’s Friend”: An Exploration of Relationships and Character Growth in Gabriele Mainetti’s Lo chiamavano Jeeg Robot

**Author's Note:**

> Highly doubtful that anyone will actually read this and I'm mostly posting it for the memez but before we get on with this, there are a few things I would like to mention:  
> One- I don't use Fabio's nickname on ethical grounds.  
> Two- I had a 1,000 word limit on this essay and, as you can see, could not even manage to wrangle down the main point to that. Because of this, I had to cut several extraneous points which I believe lent a more rounded view of these characters (at the time of my most serious revision it was 1. still technically unfinished and 2. almost 1800 words). I say this because I want to emphasize the fact that what I have written here does _not_ fully encompass my thoughts on this movie, especially with regard to Enzo and Alessia's relationship. That actually plays a bit into my next point, which is that some of my summary is an over-simplification of the events of the film, or rushed (imo), and that is again because of the word limit. I tried to distill events down to the message I took from them for the purpose of this essay while still ensuring that a reader who has not seen the movie would understand what is happening, because my USAmerican professor has not seen this random Italian superhero flick (arthouse, as Amazon lists it).  
> Three- Apologies for the format. I know it's a bit of a wall-of-text deal, AO3 unfortunately does not support indenting or double spacing. Life's great tragedies.  
> Four- I have affectionately dubbed this "the piss essay" because, out of all of Fabio's lines in this movie, the two where he specifically mentions pissing somehow managed to be the two that best supported my thesis. I hate it here. Every day I curse Luca Marinelli for being the actor that I have fixated on enough to write textual analysis essays about his most feral film.

Gabriele Mainetti’s _Lo chiamavano Jeeg Robot_ tells the story of a petty criminal slowly learning to dig himself out of the mire of his own misery. Literally translating to _“They Called Him Jeeg Robot,”_ this film follows protagonist Enzo Ceccotti after he gains superhuman strength as a result of being exposed to toxic waste in the Tiber river. For an antagonist, the viewer is introduced to small-time gangster Fabio Cannizzaro, who is hell-bent on achieving the same level of power as Enzo and using it for destruction. However, Enzo finds support in soft-spoken love interest Alessia, a traumatized young woman who processes the world through the anime Steel Jeeg. Upon being rescued from Fabio and his gang by Enzo, Alessia implores him to use his powers for good rather than continuing with his life of crime. Enzo’s journey to caring about people besides himself is a striking reminder that we all have a choice, either to allow one mindset to dictate our lives, or to take opportunities as they come and allow ourselves to grow. Enzo chooses the latter, while Fabio is insistent on remaining stagnant. By setting the two up as narrative foils and contrasting their motivations, their relationships, and their arcs, Mainetti shows the audience that everyone has the capacity to change for the better, if only they make the choice to do so.

The film begins in a time of conflict for Rome, as Enzo hides amidst a march against violence whilst on the run from people he has stolen from. Later, the viewer is informed through a news program playing on Enzo’s television while he sleeps that there have been recent bomb attacks in the heart of the city. It is a strategic move on Mainetti’s part to give the viewer this information at a time Enzo is not paying attention, as it subtly illustrates that he lives only for himself, irrespective of the goings-on of his community. The viewer is shown that, in the beginning, Enzo’s motivations as a character are self-centered, that he is asocial, and that, when he does interact with others, he is either stealing from them or using them. This apathy is demonstrated further the first time he’s made to confront the bombings directly, on the car radio of Alessia’s father, Sergio, when helping him traffic drugs. Enzo asks, “Can I switch it off?” and Sergio responds, “You don’t give a fuck about anything. If a bomb explodes outside your house? Kills your friend?” Enzo then says, “I’m not anybody’s friend.” (Mainetti), showing that he believes himself to be isolated, a true lone wolf amongst everybody else’s packs, and he has accepted this as his life. However, when the aforementioned deal goes wrong, it sets off a chain of events that challenge this notion.

Conversely, Fabio is very much motivated by his community. However, he does not act in its interest. Once he learns of the bomb attacks and sees the media attention that they have received, he wants to do the same. In fact, he wants to do something even more destructive, “I want the big one,” he says, “I want people to bow down when they meet me, so I can piss on their heads. To leave my mark.” (Mainetti). His primary motivation as a character is to be known and to be respected. The viewer is also shown upon first meeting Fabio that at one point he was a candidate on a local talent program, an old spotlight that he clings so tightly to that everything he does is motivated by his desire to regain it. This establishes the goal that drives him in order to make his refusal to change clear as the movie progresses.

Enzo and Fabio’s approaches to interpersonal relationships are similarly important to their respective relationships with change. This comes clear as Enzo’s relationship with Alessia grows stronger. The audience is shown that he was not always a loner when he tells her, “I had friends back then, a gang of us. But it ended badly, like all the most beautiful things…the night your father was killed I thought it was my turn, that was my destiny…but instead it wasn’t. I don’t know what happened to me, but I feel good…because now you’re here.” (Mainetti). This demonstrates that Enzo’s reluctance to grow close to other people does not come from hatred toward them, nor even is it simply a result of apathy, it is from fear. Enzo has seen what happens to the people who follow the same path in life as him, and he is afraid that if he allows himself to get close to others again then he will only be hurt more. However, Alessia’s influence on his life and her insistence that she sees good in him has allowed him to open up more, which in turn shows him that he can change the path he is on. Alessia functions as a vessel through which Enzo can see the good in human connection and acting for unselfish reasons, even if doing so can cause him pain.

Fabio, on the other hand, does not have such a sentimentality when it comes to those close to him. When he finds himself on the brink of a gang war, which he could have avoided by changing his ways, Fabio is forced to confront his shortcomings as a leader. His right-hand man tells him, “It’s over Fabio. From now on, we do what I say.” To which Fabio retaliates, “I taught you how to steal cars when you were pissing yourself. Some thanks?” (Mainetti), before ordering the man killed. This interaction establishes two things: that this relationship is longstanding and possibly paternal or fraternal in nature, and that this does not matter as soon as the character gets in the way of Fabio’s power. Where Enzo is tied down by his history and has to work to move beyond it, Fabio is able to easily ignore his own if doing so will make him the person in control. He is resistant to any change that does not immediately benefit him, which makes it easier for him to see others as tools to be used rather than people.

It is the fact that Enzo was willing to change and that Fabio was not that decides their respective fates. Through a series of events that led to the death of Alessia, Fabio attains the same powers as Enzo and is trying to set off a bomb at a sporting event as Enzo tries to stop him. This provides a perfect set-up to display Enzo’s growth, especially as it is contrasted with Fabio’s manic stagnation. Initially, the audience knew an Enzo who used his pain as an excuse to live in opposition to his community. This Enzo, had he lost the woman he loved, would have not cared what was happening in the world around him. However, because he allowed his worldview to change, this is not the man he is anymore. In the end, Enzo is a man who is willing to use his own body as a shield in order to save the lives of strangers, not because he wishes to die, but because it is the right thing to do and he is the only person capable of doing it. All this done in response to Fabio, a man whose motive has not changed at all, and who ultimately dies by his own plot while Enzo escapes it. This outcome implicitly shows that when we allow ourselves to be open to changing our lives and bettering ourselves, we also open ourselves to more opportunities. Conversely, if we get so stuck in one motive for everything we do, we are closing ourselves off to opportunities of betterment. Metaphorically, we end our lives if we stay in a state of stagnation and resist any change that may present itself to us.

Enzo and Fabio’s key differences are used to highlight the idea that change is something that one has to make the choice to be receptive to. Fabio’s dependence on and desire for the admiration of others continues to drive him throughout the film, and his actions are both increasingly in direct response to the actions of others, as well as increasingly destructive. On the other hand, as Enzo stops acting in opposition to other people and starts letting himself care for others again, his actions start to become more for the benefit of others than himself. This creates a stark contrast to who he was before: a man whose selfish motivations led only to destruction versus a man whose selfless motivations lead to salvation. This dichotomy functions as a way to show the viewer that we control how we react to the world around us, and that our reaction, in turn, affects the world around us.

**Author's Note:**

> I got a 98% on this essay and I'm fairly certain that 2% was knocked off because of Fabio's quotes. I promise I didn't seek out to use piss quotes, Prof. Oaks. It just worked out that they were both relevant to my thesis. I am so sorry.  
> Anyways, if you want to talk about this movie and my analysis of it, I would be thrilled to do so! Either in the comments, or on tumblr, where you can find me at the-spooky-menagerie for 4 more days (as of Oct. 27), and [the-sneering-menagerie](https://the-sneering-menagerie.tumblr.com) in regular months.


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